A COMPARISON OF HEPARIN AND NEW ANTICOAGULANTS FOR CARDIOPULMONARY BYPASS-SURGERY

Heparin is still the major anticoagulant of choice during CPB, but it may cause thrombocytopenia and severe bleeding in patients. In light o f these complications, the development of new anticoagulant drugs seem ed to be necessary for these patients. Many experimental studies focus ed on r-hirudin, which presented a less hemorrhagic effect than hepari n. However, neither antagonist has been shown to reverse this effect.